-What is the guarantee that the support of the Armed Forces to the Security Forces in the fight against narcoterrorism does not end in a disaster like in other countries?
The first guarantee there is is the political decision of a government to decisively fight against drug trafficking and do so with all the power that the State has.
But do it within the framework of a law that passes through the National Congress.
And furthermore, the Armed Forces, and this is important to say, are not going to act directly against drug trafficking, they are going to act as long as there are terrorist actions, which is the area in which the Armed Forces act around the world, particularly after 9/11 (refers to the attacks on the Twin Towers in 2001)
-As?
They are going to do it with a certain procedure and they are going to do it equipped, trained and prepared for it.
This is also important, because this has been one of the problems that the Armed Forces have had when acting in Internal Security, that they do not prepare, are not trained and are not equipped.
All of these issues are provided for in this law that we are sending to Congress.
But in addition, this preparation, training and adequate equipment have very clear rules of procedure regarding how they should act and how they should proceed according to the aggression they receive.
-Have you and Minister Bullrich already said that the reform of the law is about article 27?
Yes. Basically, our Internal Security Law provides for two possibilities of action by the Armed Forces.
The first is the weakest intervention, through actions to support the security forces, be it transportation, logistics, communications, arsenals, administration, veterinary or engineers.
The second action is the most extreme, it is the one provided for in article 31, which is in the case of the issuance of a State of Siege due to internal commotion.
This extreme action places the Armed Forces in the worst scenario, because constitutional guarantees are suspended.
We are proposing an intermediate intervention that acts in cases of terrorism, that acts under the protection of the law, that acts with rules of procedure, that can prepare, that can train.
-Against drugs too?
Against terrorism.
The intervention of the Armed Forces is not planned for common crimes.
We are talking about how we want the Armed Forces to act in a very specific case, which is terrorism, when there are actions intended to terrorize the population in those cases.
There is a political decision by the President of the Nation, Javier Milei, to give an all-out fight to drug trafficking and terrorism.
-Were you surprised by Victoria Villarruel's criticism of the use of the military in Security? What would she answer?
No, I was not surprised because it is a position that she has been holding.
We think differently, clearly.
We are in another context, we are in a State of Law and they are Armed Forces of the Constitution and democracy that act under the protection of the law, they act under the protection of the Constitution.
The assumption of the actions of the Armed Forces in the 70s, particularly in 76 onwards, has nothing to do with the Armed Forces today.
-But she raises her fear that the soldiers who acted in the 70s ended up in prison and why the same would not happen now...
The thing is that then there was no rule of law, there was no Constitution there and furthermore, not only did soldiers end up in prison, they ended up civilians.
Police and gendarmes ended up in prison.
I mean, the problem was not the professional characteristic or the activity that was carried out.
The problem was acting contrary to the law, contrary to the Constitution.
And of all those who ended up in prison questioned for crimes against humanity.
Here there are going to be procedures, there are going to be rules and where this goes, the judge must be notified of each and every one of the actions they carry out.
That is why one situation is absolutely different from the other.
-And if they are going to have the same conditions, how are they going to satisfy the demand of the Armed Forces that their salaries be equal to that of the Security Forces?
We are working on that.
The previous government, irresponsibly, promised equalization and did not foresee the budget items.
He made a 'small money plan' in the middle of an election year.
They promised something that they could not fulfill and could not sustain over time.
There was no budget forecast and they gave the machine to comply for a few months, just with some of the salary equalization quotas.
But there is the firm intention and will of this Government to achieve true salary equalization.
-If the terrorist action expands to Córdoba or the province of Buenos Aires, will the Armed Forces operation extend to said provinces?
I don't want to place it on any province in particular.
If terrorism arises, if there are criminal actions that seek to terrorize the population, there will be the possibility of using the Armed Forces, as occurs anywhere in the world.
We saw it on October 7 in the face of the brutal Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and the Armed Forces immediately acted.
The Israeli Armed Forces would not have been able to intervene under Argentine legislation.
We had four terrorist events in Rosario.
They have not been presented in other provinces.
-Then it will be a national performance
It is National, the new law does not say Rosario.
The Law states that within the framework of the Crisis Committee, if this committee considers that certain events are intended to terrorize the population, it can call, in addition to support operations, for the Armed Forces, for example, to carry out patrol tasks. control of people and vehicles, fixed and mobile control points, control of facilities.
If there is terrorism, we could see the Armed Forces acting under the same conditions that the Security Forces act.
If the governor consents, if the Crisis Committee determines it.
-And what equipment will the Armed Forces have if they have had an enormous deficit for decades? It's very poor
The previous government devastated the Armed Forces, defunded them.
The funds they received were not oriented and destined for equipment and particularly strategic equipment.
The Armed Forces will have the equipment that they have today, for example, to carry out peace tasks, peace missions, in which in many cases they perform security functions.
This is the most ambitious and most important reform since the enactment of the Internal Security Law.
-Why the most important?
Because it breaks paradigms and ideological biases with which the Armed Forces are demonized.
The Armed Forces are forces of democracy and in all the countries of the world the Armed Forces fulfill functions that today in Argentina they do not have, because they are looked at with an eye to the 70s. In all the countries bordering Argentina, the Armed Forces guard the borders.
In the only country where the Armed Forces do not have the capacity to guard the border is Argentina, and when they have been taken to the border they have been taken without rules to act, to provide a deterrent presence, which is almost embarrassing for them to go. to notify the gendarmes about what is happening in the Argentine Republic.
-And if Congress rejects the Homeland Security reform, will they do it by decree?
There is no plan B. And the people of Rosario have no plan B either.
They are risking their lives today every day.
So, we want the National Congress to be the one that enables the Armed Forces to act in certain cases and with all the protection and protection of the law to defend the lives of the people of Rosario who today are suffering acts of narco-terrorism.
Drug trafficking advanced in Rosario because there were years and years of apathy from governments that allowed drug trafficking to advance.
That they empowered him, that they did not finance him and that they guaranteed him impunity.
-The commander in chief of the Southern Command, Laura Richardson, said again before her arrival in April that she is concerned about China in Argentina. And she talked about the lunar exploration base in Neuquén. What does she think?
That base is being controlled so that it complies with the effects of that agreement that was signed at the time by the Kirchner government.
It is not a military base.
And they do not have the Armed Forces to control it.
It is a scientific base and therefore, control depends on Argentine scientific institutions.
-On Tuesday the 26th, the Minister of Defense of Denmark arrives and you travel to Denmark. Milei retweeted again one of her fans who say they are going to buy the F16 supersonic planes from the United States and the State Department celebrated the presidential retweet. When is the contract for?
There are still no signed contracts.
Indeed, we are advancing in negotiations with Denmark, which is who we could buy the planes from.
It's a negotiation.
There are no set deadlines.
But there is indeed the political decision of the Argentine Republic to advance in the negotiation to make the purchase of its aircraft possible.
-What other large equipment are you planning to buy?
We are defining the acquisitions that are going to be made with the Fondef (National Defense Fund).
Since the sanction of Fondef (the minister is very critical of the use of this Fund by the K administration) no significant purchases have been recorded for any of the forces that exponentially improve our defensive capabilities.
The Army has been demanding the purchase of wheeled armored vehicles for years.
The Air Force does the same with fighters and not to mention the Navy, with the possibility of recovering submarine capacity.
None of these three purchases, which are priorities for the Argentine Armed Forces, have been taken into account by the authorities, which have been used for minor purchases or, eventually, to end up financing Defense companies, to end up paying payrolls. salaries of Defense companies.
-Do you reiterate what you said that the military factories were used to make plaza benches, train cars and infrastructure in Tecnópolis?
Of course.
Tandanor, which should manufacture and repair ships, among other things, makes train cars, furniture for squares and even monuments of Néstor Kirchner.
And it is a factory whose purpose is the manufacturing and repair of ships, and it made bicycles.
There was an agreement with the Trust Fund managed by Grabois for 32 million dollars, where, among other things, Tandanor committed to making furniture for plazas.
Milei's government has problems facing its reforms. We saw it with the DNU and with the laws in the legislature. Was it done wrong?
No, because we are not going to negotiate the changes.
We believe that the Argentine Republic urgently demands and requires changes.
And we are not willing to negotiate to guarantee the
status quo
.
We are going to dialogue and we are going to negotiate with all the political parties that want a change in the Argentine Republic.
We live through decades of crisis, decadence, poverty, destitution, insecurity, the product of a State that thinks of itself and does not think of the people.
-And how do you see Milei?
Very good, super focused and with determination and the decision to definitively change decades of decadence in this country.
I think he is the president that Argentina deserved a long time ago.
The Mendoza lawyer who was a vice candidate and fell in love with Cristina Peréz
Luis Petri made his way in Buenos Aires through his participation in television programs, where he distinguished himself by speaking very focused on his status as a lawyer and deputy.
He was always seen identified with Mendoza's anti-K radicalism. Later, his time for love came when he met the renowned journalist Cristina Peréz, a reference for Telefe newscasts, who interviewed him on her radio program Confesiones.
Since then they have been a couple.
In Congress, Petri is known for several projects, such as one of those currently being contemplated by President Javier Milei: that of adding Hamas to the list of organizations considered terrorist by Argentina.
Then it continued on the Security "route" as a provincial law informally called the "Petri Law", of 2012, and which restricts temporary releases for those convicted of serious crimes.
At the national level there is also a law approved by Congress associated with it, which introduced various changes in the criminal execution policy with more crimes that are not given the benefit of parole.
Sponsored by Patricia Bullrich since she chose him as her vice presidential candidate with Together for Change in the 2023 presidential elections, which Javier Milei finally won, Petri is looking for his own profile.
But strongly associated with the Minister of Security in this reform in which he appears to be strongly playing his political capital.
Petri also does not deny that he still wants to be governor of Mendoza in the near future.
Next October it is organizing the sixteenth hemispheric Defense Summit in Buenos Aires, which will be attended by the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin.
A summit tailored to your needs because policies towards the new challenges of defense, terrorism, civil war and asymmetric wars will be addressed and agreed upon.
-So, as was said, in the next few days they are going to modify articles 27 and 31 of the Security Law and also make a decree with the regulations of the Defense Law?
No. Only 27. We are not going to touch article 31, that is, we are not going to touch the assumptions that are established in the Rule of Law.
And in the coming weeks we are going to promulgate the decree that regulates the Defense Law, because today the Defense Law has been distorted by a decree that has limited and that has violated and violated the spirit of the law.
Because the Defense Law establishes that our Armed Forces are empowered to act against external aggression.
It was a decree by Nilda Garré in 2006 that she said that these external aggressions should only come from another State.
Interview with Luis Petri Minister of Defense of the Nation.
Photos Emmanuel Fernández - FTP CLARIN _EMA8854-01.jpg Z EFernandz Efernandez
Itinerary
Luis Alfonso Petri has been Minister of Defense since last December 10.
He was born on April 1, 1977 in San Martín, province of Mendoza.
He graduated as a lawyer from the National University of the Litoral.
He was national deputy (2013-2021), provincial deputy in Mendoza (2006-2013), member of the Mendoza Judicial Council (2006-2007).
He is affiliated with the Radical Civic Union (UCR).
He was a university professor.
He has a postgraduate degree in cybercrime and digital evidence, in Deputies he chaired the Internal Security Commission and was a member of the Defense Commission.
He was a pre-candidate for governor in Mendoza for the 2023 elections, in which the current provincial leader, Alfredo Cornejo, won.
He was later a candidate for vice president of Patricia Bullrich, with Together for Change.
And finally with the current Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, he supported the Libertad Avanza candidate, Javier Milei.
He has a 17-year-old son and is in a relationship with journalist Cristina Pérez.
Right now
A challenge:
help the President end decades of decline
A hero:
Jose de San Martin
A meal:
roast
A drink:
Malbec
A movie:
Gladiator
A series:
band of brothers
A book:
Time of Rebirth
A pleasure:
enjoy my wife, Cristina, my son Julián and my family
A memory:
I have two, the birth of Julián and my engagement to Cristina